Sticky Situation- A Band of Brothers Short
by MamaBear2Two
Summary: Buck and JD usually get along great, except when JD turns into a monster. Why must little brothers be such a pain? Set in my Band of Brothers AU.


Just a fun little short I wrote trying to get the muses going for the next chapter of BOB. It takes place somewhere in the BOB timeline after Chris and Buck joined up, but before Ezra. :)

**M7**

"JD!"

Buck's bellow had Josiah snapping his head up from where he'd been bent over, washing clothes at the edge of the creek.

"JD, dang ya! Where are ya, ya little monster?!"

Sighing, Josiah got to his feet, dusting his knees off and glancing at Nathan, who'd been quietly reading a magazine. He was glad he'd found something Nathan enjoyed, he'd been so miserably bored while he was sick. The outdated magazines had been a blessing and he hoped they were able to find more. Their healer had already made his way through most of them.

"I got the wash," Nathan grinned ruefully with his offer, "better go make sure Buck doesn't actually kill him."

Patting Nathan's shoulder, Josiah nodded, "Hopefully it's not as bad as the crayfish in Chris's blankets."

Nathan snorted as he set the magazine down and moved over to ring out one of Buck's shirts. "Pretty sure JD won't ever play a trick on Chris again."

Josiah chuckled softly, "Agreed, Little Brother. Unfortunately, that leaves the rest of us as fair game."

"JD! _John Daniel Dunne_!" Buck's voice grew louder and closer, prompting Josiah to move off towards their dark haired brother, a grateful, 'thank you,' called over his shoulder as he did.

"Buck?" Josiah's voice was just loud enough to carry through the bushes he'd heard the teen trekking through.

"Josiah! You seen JD?! I'm gonna murder him!" Buck burst through the greenery, one hand swiping at his face in annoyance. Josiah stared a moment, gaping at the picture Buck created. "Josiah! Did'ya hear? Can't you see what he did?"

"Buck..."Josiah bit back a chuckle. It _wasn't_ funny. "What...how did...where'd he-"

"I was taking a nap! And when I woke up, this!" Buck gestured towards his face, before turning and hollering, "John Daniel!" Josiah heard the bit of despair in Buck's voice and easily swallowed the remaining laughter he'd initially felt. He moved closer to the normally gregarious teen and turned Buck to face him, examining the damage.

"What is all this stuff?" he muttered the words to himself, but Buck looked up at him with the one eye that wasn't practically stuck shut.

"I think it's honey," he grumbled softly, rubbing his hand across his cheek and looking sadly at the sticky mess that covered his fingers, "I ain't done nothin' to him." Josiah was sure the words were meant to sound upset, but they failed, the hurt shining through.

"I think it's too dark for just honey, Buck." Josiah tipped his brother's face to the side, leaning close to smell Buck's forehead. "I think I smell blueberries too, bud."

A dark look crossed the younger boy's face and pulling away from Josiah, Buck whipped around towards camp, "I'm gonna-" Josiah's hand on his shoulder cut his threat short and he looked back at his guardian in obvious frustration, "Some of it's in my hair, Josiah! Don't blueberry stain stuff?!"

Sighing as he continued to inspect the sticky mess that adorned Buck's hair and face, Josiah nodded, "Sometimes, bud. Let's get you cleaned up and see if we can avoid that."

"But JD-"

"I'll take care of JD. You go wash up, I'm going to see if there's any hot water left, I'll be right back." Josiah gently pushed Buck towards the creek, and waited until the teen cooperated.

Once Buck had moved off, Josiah looked back to camp. Their youngest had some explaining to do.

**M7**

"It was just an experiment, Josiah!" JD took a step back as Josiah headed for him, his hiding spot behind the large rock no longer a safe place to be, "Honest!"

Josiah paused..an experiment? What in the world was the boy babbling about?

"You spread honey on your brother's face as an _experiment_?" Josiah's voice was heavy with disbelief, even as JD began to nod fiercely.

"Yessir! I heard the ladies back in Dixon tell a way to make your skin better. I just wanted to try it!"

"On Buck? When he was _sleeping_?"

JD nodded again, warily watching Josiah, "Yessir."

"Why?"

"Nathan's been sick," the boy mumbled, "and you were busy...And Chris wouldn't...he just wouldn't..but Buck...he would….ceptin, not if he was awake." JD finished lamely, shrugging a little.

Taking a deep breath and looking at his youngest in clear exasperation, Josiah pointed to a spot on the ground near his feet. "C'mere."

JD shook his head wildly, obviously quite happy with the space between them. Josiah blew out an annoyed breath, pointing to the ground in front of him again and repeated his order, "C'mere. I'm not gonna swat you." He refrained from rolling his eyes when JD hesitated a second before stepping forward, watching cautiously as he inched to the spot Josiah had indicated.

"Would you want someone to put sticky stuff all over _your_ face?" JD ducked his head but didn't answer and Josiah crossed his arms, "John Daniel, answer me."

Huffing, JD shook his head, "Course not." He mumbled, kicking at the grass under his beat up boots, "but I wasn't...it didn't...it was an experiment!" He glared up at Josiah, as if the entire thing was his guardian's fault.

"Experiment or not, I think you knew it wasn't kind. I know that we've been here awhile, Nathan needed rest. But, that doesn't mean you can play mean tricks, and it certainly isn't a reason to dump a sticky mess on Buck. I think that his face may be stained." Josiah took in a few deep breaths, the look on JD's face now one of near mutiny.

"I didn't know it would stain!" JD muttered fiercely, "and I wasn't trying to be mean...it's just...there's nothin' to _do_ here!" The last words ended in a bit of a wail, and Josiah reached out to pull JD a bit closer.

"If you need something to do, I can find plenty of ways to fill up your time that don't involve crayfish, sticky messes or other things that'll get you in trouble."

Shifting back to look up at Josiah, JD shook his head, "But I wasn't trying to get in trouble!"

Josiah shrugged, "If you can't keep yourself from causing problems, I'll have to keep you busy."

JD's mouth opened and closed a few times, his hazel eyes wide and searching Josiah's, "But I don't wanna _work_!"

Josiah raised one eyebrow and tipped his head to the side, studying his brother, "I think you should try a bit harder then, bud. Your idle hands seem to make nothing but mischief. You've been awfully busy finding ways to irk your brothers. Pretty sure Chris is still sore about the crayfish."

JD swallowed roughly at Josiah's words, peering over his shoulder in concern.

"Yeah...don't talk 'bout that, Josiah, I don't want Chris to…" JD stopped short, looking back to Josiah, "Do I really hafta? I won't have time to play!" the hazel eyed boy whined, giving Josiah his very best puppy dog eyes.

"Well that's too bad. Because you're going to be doing Buck's chores until his face is back to normal." Josiah answered, unphased.

"But-" Josiah shook his head, cutting off JD's whine, though it didn't stop JD for long, the boy sucking in a breath before asking, "Does that mean if all the spots are gone by dinner I don't have to wash the dishes?"

Josiah swallowed the chuckle that bubbled up at his youngest brother's ability to bargain.

"Hm...that is a good question. But I think you can do Buck's chores for the next two days. If Buck's face is still stained by then, we'll have to discuss it some more."

"But that's not fair!"

"Neither is what you did to Buck." Josiah said, one eyebrow raised.

**M7**

Josiah walked back into camp, glad that after the day's events things had settled back to normal. He grinned at Nathan and Chris, both sitting around the dwindling fire. Dropping to the ground next to Nathan, he reached out to touch the younger boy's forehead, "Feeling ok?"

Nathan nodded, throwing a wary glance at Chris, "I'm fine. Josiah, where are Buck and JD?"

Chuckling a bit, Josiah glanced behind him. "Buck asked to take JD fishing."

"Fishing?" Chris asked, sitting up straight and looking at Josiah in disbelief.

Nodding, their guardian leaned back on his hands and stared up at the early evening sky.

"Uh, Josiah, I don't think-" Nathan faltered and then stopped, glancing at Chris again.

"Ain't no way the kid was taking him fishing, Josiah." Chris said, shaking his head.

Pulling his gaze from the sky, Josiah opened his mouth, "Buck asked-"

"Buck! Nooooooooo!" the yell echoed through the small clearing behind them, followed by a large splash and laughter.

"Told ya he wasn't taking him fishing."


End file.
